Tommy felt his heart beating in time to the wedding march playing. Then, as Lindy appeared at the head of the aisle, it beat in time to her high heeled steps, as she began to walk down it. She walked slowly, her arm in George's, right over the pink and red rose petals his two nieces were animatedly tossing ahead of them from their baskets.

Lindy wore a long, but trainless, white V-neck dress, embroidered with lace flowers. It was held up by thin straps, and it hugged her perfectly. Her hair was done up, with small, white lace flowers interwoven into her bun, showing off the diamond drop earrings she had borrowed from Sophia. Tendrils of hair framed her face, and her makeup only served to highlight her natural beauty.

She looks absolutely radiant, thought Tommy in wonder. He had butterflies in his stomach and his hands were trembling slightly, which he tried to hide by folding one hand over the other and gripping it tightly.

"Relax," Yeager whispered, at his shoulder. Clearly, he wasn't hiding his nervousness as well as he'd thought. Sophia shot him a look from the other side of the altar, silently telling him to get his shit together. Beside her, Sara hid a silent laugh behind her hand.

He ignored them all and focused on Lindy. Their eyes met, and Tommy felt the exact same feeling that had hit him the first time he'd ever seen Lindy, when he was undercover at Sophia's club, hit him now. He was just struck by her. Even now, after being with her this long. Lindy was looking at him like he was her sole focus, and he realized dimly, he was. The rest of the world fell away, if only for an instant, and it was just the two of them. A sense of peace washed over Tommy and his hands stopped trembling.

His eyes remained glued to hers as she and George drew closer. She was going to be his wife. Sometimes, he still had a hard time believing that he was fortunate enough to have her in his life, and that she wanted him in hers as much as he wanted her in his. But she did. And today, they were going to show their closest friends and family how much they did. They were going to show them how much they loved each other.

His whole world was right here, her smile wide, standing directly in front of him now.

He had to fight the urge to take her into his arms and kiss her right then and there, in front of everyone. Instead, he took the arm that George offered him, after he and Lindy had hugged. She looked down at where her arm was tucked into his, and flicked her dark eyes up to his, the joy in them making him suck in his breath.

"Take care of her, Tommy-boy," George warned him. "Or else I'll wipe your 401k account clean."

Lindy let out a short laugh and urged him towards his seat. Tommy rolled his eyes good naturedly, but looking at Lindy he said, "Of course. I always will."

When they vowed to be with each other for richer or for poorer, and in sickness and in health, Lindy answered with a firm, "I do," and smiled at him. Tommy smiled back, and dug the nail of his middle finger into his palm, so that the pain would distract him and keep him from shedding any tears. It still didn't prevent his voice from cracking when it was his turn to say, "I do."

When it was time to exchange rings, Tommy blinked rapidly to keep any tears from falling as he slid the wedding band above Lindy's engagement ring. Lindy shot him a watery smile as she slid the wedding band on his finger.

When the priest announced that he could now kiss the bride, he swept Lindy into his arms and kissed her, his hands coming up to cradle her face, while hers rested on his chest. When they pulled away, he was glad to see that his eyes weren't the only one shining brightly, hers were too, and their smiles were enormous.

X

"How do you feel?" Sara asked, taking a sip of the drink in her hand. She placed herself next to Lindy, who had been quietly standing near the bar area, looking out at the guests.

From this vantage point, Lindy could see Tommy—her husband, talking and laughing with Ben's parents and younger sister; who were seated next to Tommy's brother's family and their parents.

Tommy had insisted they invite Ben's family. Ben's parents had practically been Tommy's too growing up, and he had said it would have felt wrong if they weren't there on his wedding day.

When Ben had been killed, there had been a lot of angry words, driven by an immense grief, from Ben's family, that had kept Tommy away, and they had drifted apart. But he had wanted them at his wedding.

Lindy had driven with him to the Miller family home, and despite the years that had passed since Ben's death, it had still been difficult to see the home he had grown up in and could never return to.

Lindy had been braced for anger. She honestly thought they would be kicked off the property, but instead, Ben's parents had surprised them both. They invited them inside. After the initial awkwardness they had apologized to both of them over how they had acted towards them at Ben's funeral. They had needed somebody to blame and that never should have been them. It had been the Flirtual Killer's fault, and only his. They had known that as a cop, there was a chance Ben could be killed in the line of duty, but it had still been devastating when it had happened.

Eventually, they had made amends, and she and Tommy had driven back to the city. Tommy had looked relieved and Lindy had felt like a crushing weight had been lifted off her shoulders. They had needed that closure. Tommy had told her later that he hadn't just lost Ben when he'd died, but his second family, and now Ben was still gone, but at least he'd gotten them back. And now, here they were, laughing and joking together. It warmed Lindy's heart.

Lindy?" Sara asked again, when she still hadn't responded.

"Sorry." She faced her sister. "I was thinking."

"It's okay. It's a big day for you." Sara smoothed a wrinkle out of her lavender bridesmaid dress and took another sip of her drink. "I was asking you how you feel."

"Happy," Lindy answered without hesitation. "Absolutely happy. It's like even after every bad thing that happened to us, everything aligned. We get to be together, and he and I—we just make sense. At least it feels that way."

Sara nodded her agreement. "You do. I don't see you guys often, but when I do, it's so obvious that the love is there. Tommy's a good guy." She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "The way you describe it, that's how I feel about Dylan."

"Aren't you sad that you didn't have a big wedding?"

Sara scrunched up her nose in distaste. "No. Both of us were fine with the courthouse wedding. And honestly, besides you and Tommy as witnesses, who else would we have invited?"

"True. Besides you and Dylan, a few of my classmates from MIT, and my friends, all of these guests are from Tommy's side. I'm okay with that though." Lindy grinned at her sister. "It means that the people that truly matter to me are right here."

A small hand slipped into her right hand, and an even smaller one slipped into her left. "Aunt Lindy, you look like a princess." Lindy smiled when she saw it was Tommy's nieces —and now hers. Both blonde and both hazel eyed. Lindy loved them, and they had taken a liking to her immediately, calling her aunt since the day they'd met her at a Sunday dinner held by Tommy's parents. There, she had been welcomed with open arms into Tommy's family, and despite how awkward she could be around new people, she had fit right in.

"Thank you, girls. But the real princesses are you two. You guys did a great job scattering the flower petals at the church earlier." Seven-year-old Hanna gave her a gap-toothed smile and three-year-old Tess grinned around the thumb in her mouth.

When they ran off to play tag with some of the other children, Sara asked, "Have you told him yet?"

"Not yet." Lindy bit her lip, nervous. "I was planning on doing it later when I can get him away."

Sara patted Lindy's shoulder. "It'll be fine, Lindy—"

"How are you guys doing?" Tommy asked, his hand sliding around her waist, surprising Lindy. Had he heard them?

Before Tommy could say anything else, Sophia was in front of them. "What are you guys doing over here?" Sophia exclaimed, her engagement ring catching the light as she waved them towards the dance floor. "You guys should be dancing! Connor is already out there with his boyfriend, George is out there with Pascal, Yeager's waiting for me—and Dylan is waiting for you, Sara!" She grabbed Sara's hand and started to drag her towards the dance floor.

Laughing, Sara set her empty glass on a nearby table and tried to grab Lindy's hand to join them. A fast-paced song came on and Sophia let out a shriek. "Oooo, I love this song! Come on, Tommy and Lindy. You have to get out here!"

"In a second!" Lindy called out to her. "Me and Tommy are going to get some air." Tommy raised his eyebrows at her as if asking, We are? "We'll be back soon."

Sophia's eyes widened in understanding and she gave them a wolfish grin over her shoulder. "Take your time, lovebirds."

Lindy led her husband out of the tent where their reception was being held, and out into the night. "Anywhere we can sit down? You know this place better than I do."

"I have a place in mind." He took her hand and led them down a path lit by lanterns, where they encountered a few other guests, who congratulated them and gushed over Lindy's dress and Tommy's tuxedo.

He did look handsome Lindy appraised. He always did, but he looked especially dashing now with the tailored, black tuxedo Sophia had insisted he buy, his black dress shoes, a crisp, white shirt, that was now unbuttoned at the neck, but where a slim black tie had been, and his hair parted to the side, instead of his usual brushed back way.

"You know," he said, leading her towards a bench that she could see up ahead, in front of an enormous oak tree. "I always figured that I would be the last person to cry at a wedding, but I could barely keep it together for my own."

Lindy laughed. "I saw that. I was doing okay, but then I'd see your face and I'd have to keep swallowing to keep the lump from forming in my throat."

"We've been through so much. Both individually and together, that I think we both had a hard time believing that it was all culminating into this, and that we're able to start a life together."

Lindy nodded in agreement. "I was just talking to Sara about that." She squeezed his hand. "It wasn't easy, but we're here and I'm very happy."

He squeezed her hand back and smiled at her. "So am I."

The stars shone brightly above them. Something they didn't see with all of the light pollution in the city. Lindy had almost forgotten that there could be so many stars. She looked over at Tommy walking next to her, her love, her husband.

He felt her gaze on him and met it with his own, grinning. They reached the wooden bench and sat down. There was nobody nearby to talk to them, and those that had been outside were starting to make their way back into the tent. It was just what Lindy wanted.

Despite the height difference, Tommy laid his head on her shoulder. It was made more adorable to Lindy, by the fact that he was nearly slumped over on the bench they were sitting on, to do it.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" He asked, taking hold of her hand again and intertwining their fingers together.

"Very," she whispered, feeling like speaking too loudly would break the spell of the night. "I still can't believe your uncle let us use his property here upstate."

Tommy shrugged. "I think he felt it was appropriate, seeing as how my brother and I would spend about a month most summers here with him and my aunt. We never really wanted to go back home at the end of the month. It was so peaceful up here."

Absently, Lindy played with Tommy's hair as she spoke. "I've thanked him for letting us have the wedding here, but I think I'll thank him again, since we never came up here at night, and I never saw all the stars. It adds something, don't you think?"

Tommy nodded, seeming distracted. He straightened up suddenly, his eyes meeting hers. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"What makes you think I want to talk about something?" Lindy asked, with an air of forced casualness. She was chickening out, she knew.

"Because you're fidgeting with your pinkie." She immediately let go of her finger, having been unaware that she was even doing that. "And you look nervous." His eyes searched hers. "And because I know you, Lindy. So, what's on your mind?"

She bit her lip. "It's not bad. I just don't know what you'll think."

Tommy chuckled, despite his own nervousness over the way she kept dodging his questions. It was so obvious to him that something was going on with her. "That hasn't really stopped you before from doing whatever you have in mind."

She didn't respond. Instead, she looked down at her dress again, then back up at him, then down at her dress again. "Lindy what is it?" The suspense was killing him. "Whatever it is, I'm with you. We're in this together. Always."

Her gaze flicked back up to him.

"We're having a baby." Tommy's eyes widened in shock or surprise, she wasn't sure which, and she rushed ahead. "The reason I was nervous to tell you was because we literally just got married, and I know we wanted to wait to start a family, and we wanted to travel for a bit first, and—"

Tommy stood up abruptly, pulled her to her feet, and picked her up in his arms, spinning her around in a circle, the stars wheeling over their heads. "We're having a baby!" He yelled. "We're having a baby!" He was laughing.

Lindy grinned, her eyes widening at his reaction, as he continued to spin her around in a circle. "Tommy!" Lindy laughed, giddy. "Tommy put me down!" He set her down gently, pulled her close, and kissed her.

"We're having a baby!" he exclaimed again, gleeful, when he pulled away, an ear-to-ear smile on his face. "How long have you known?"

"I only found out the other day. I went to the doctor's office once I realized I hadn't gotten my period." She smiled, relieved at what his reaction had been. "I'm already a month along. I was going to tell you after we got back from Hawaii, but it's been on my mind, and I just wasn't sure how you would react, seeing as how we had so many plans—"

Tommy kissed her again, long and slow, his thumbs brushing over her jaw, before finally pulling back, the smile from earlier still on his face. "We'll still do them," he assured her, "but now we have somebody else joining us." He kissed her temple. "It'll only be three times as fun now."

Lindy could feel herself practically glowing. This was truly the happiest day of her life.

"Looks like it's me and my two girls now."

Lindy's eyebrows shot up at that. "Your girls?"

Tommy nodded vigorously. "You, Lindy." His hand went tentatively to her still flat stomach. "And little Lindy."

"Little Lindy?" She couldn't suppress her laugh. "And, if it's a boy?"

He kissed her forehead, looking into her eyes. "I will also be enormously happy if it's a boy, but I think that we're having ourselves a feisty little girl, just like her momma."

Lindy rolled her eyes, hiding the blush and how much his words could still affect her, by burying her face in his chest. "I love you, Tommy."

He kissed the top of her head, before brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes, gazing into them. "I love you too, Lindy." His expression turned serious. "I promise you, that I'll take care of you and the baby—and any others that we may have."

Lindy placed a hand on his cheek. "You don't have to promise me, Tommy. I already know."

His features softened, and he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. "Thank you, love," he whispered to her.

She kissed him quickly on the lips and took a hold of his hand. "We should probably get back to the party. They must be wondering where we are."

Tommy nodded. "Yeah, we should. Let's go, Mrs. Lindy Calligan."

They grinned, happy, as they made their way back to their party together, hand in hand.

Thank you all again for coming along with me on the ride. Drop a comment if you like. I'd love to hear your guy's thoughts on it. I hope you enjoyed Promise, and I wish you all well. Love, HazelDragonfly